September 1, 2005

Hurricane Katrina has devastated thousands of lives. Today, we're announcing a coordinated effort by the liberal/progressive blogosphere to help the victims of the devastation. Together, we're going to raise $1 million for the American Red Cross - and prove that the liberal blogosphere can help our fellow citizens in need. Make a donation for hurricane relief.

As President Clinton once said, "There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America."

The most prominent lefty blogs in the nation, represented by the Liberal Blog Advertising Network, are leading the way by running donated ads and asking readers to join us in making a difference. Combined, these blogs will display their ads over 12 million times each week over the course of the campaign.

All of the proceeds will be sent to the Red Cross. Donations are being tracked by Drop Cash. Transactions are secured through Paypal. You can be certain that your contribution will be secure, for a good cause, and people will know it came from the liberal blogosphere.

Comments

I have never been as angry as I am tonight. I should stop watching what's going on in New Orleans. But I can't. It's just too clear that the plan was to let the poor, the black, the sick, the elderly sit there and drown. The order was given to evacuate, and about 80% of the people there did. However, it was perfectly well known that thousands of people living there don't even own cars, and there was no effort to at least bus them out. Plenty of other people who were not poor and black got trapped there, too. People in the hospitals obviously couldn't travel, college students arriving to start the new semester, tourists whose planes were canceled, for example. No plan was made for them, either. There wasn't even a plan for shelters for those who couldn't leave. The decision to use the Superdome was settled on at the last minute, and a few other buildings were reluctantly opened. There was SOME food and water, but not enough.

As for the flooding, it turns out that it was WELL KNOWN that the levees were in trouble. They were not only not high enough, but they were in disrepair and sinking. Bush had a report about this from the Army Corps of Engineers as soon as he took office. Clinton had a plan in place to repair the levees, and a plan for covering any emergencies. Bush scrapped both. He ordered another study of the condition of the levees; the results, of course, were the same as the first study. He cut the budget for flood prevention for New Orleans by 80%! At least this was on the news tonight, on ABC. And it's getting into the blogs.

Bush made that incredibly stupid speech about all the food and help that was on the way. Today that creepy looking Chernoff, or whatever his name is, the new head of Homeland Security, was on TV with an army of fast-talking jackasses explaining how all this help was available to New Orleans. So how come as of late this afternoon NONE of it had gotten there? CNN had reporters all over the city, reporting on the total lack of resources, even water. There were thousands of people at the Superdome, and outside the Convention Center, where people had been told to go because there would be busses to take them out of the city, who had no food or water for three days. At the same time Chernoff was telling us about the wonderful job the National Guard was doing, these reporters were reporting that there just weren't any at any of these key places. As people died waiting in the sun, their bodies were covered with sheets; one dead woman in a wheelchair was covered with a blanket and left next to the wall. While one reporter was interviewing people, a man went into a convulsion right in front of him. People who still had a little water poured it over him to try to cool him down and tried to revive him. There was, of course, no medical help. I don't know if he died or not.

I think it was only because all this was on the news and everyone could see what was going on that rescue efforts finally resumed late this afternoon. They'd STOPPED using helicopters and boats to rescue people this morning. They'd taken about 3,000 people to Houston by bus, and they'd stopped doing that, too. And that bunch of bastards had the gall to appear on TV to tell us about all their wonderful efforts. So did Bush, a little later. Well, anyone who watched TV today knew what was going on, and how people were suffering.

And the situation was deteriorating. The hospitals were running out of supplies, their generators were failing, they had to start evacuating people. Luckily, the news was covering this, too, and helicopters finally began to show up to move them. As of this evening, busses were once again taking people away from the Superdome, too, but not from the Convention Center yet, but at least some food and water were being distributed.

This is human misery on a Biblical scale, and it's going to go on and on. Everybody who lived in New Orleans is now homeless for an unknown period of time. Smaller cities where they're being taken are finding their population suddenly doubled -- with penniless refugees. The people who had managed to evacuate before the hurricane and went to hotels in other cities are running out of money and now have no place to go. It doesn't matter any more who was rich and who was poor. The businesses and industries that thrived in New Orleans don't exist any more. So now what? If the American people continue to put up with that damned bunch of liars telling us how wonderful and compassionate they are and how much they're doing to help, I can't imagine what the future of this country is going to be like.